Epic Men

That was that, then. Fedal 32 threatened to become a classic, but Federer’s inconsistency meant Nadal took care of business efficiently. Let us now move on to the REAL MATCH today. Two players who always seem to find a way to push a match into a decider. Novak Djokovic and Stanislas Wawrinka have already given us two of the best matches of this year. Can they produce another epic today? The answer lies mostly on the racquet of Novak Djokovic. More likely in his head.

Djokovic has played some wonderful tennis in the 1st half of the Indoor season. Late in Paris, however the long season seems to be catching up with Novak and his game is slightly off keel. He has played 3 three setters in 3 round-robin matches here and if he keeps up that level of play, Stan Wawrinka might just do what Juan Martin Delpotro, Richard Gasquet and Roger Federer threatened to do. This is the big time and the business end of the 5th Grand Slam of the year. Djokovic will have to be at his very best to see off the threat that Wawrinka poses.

Stan Wawrinka has made a wonderful debut at the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals. This year Wawrinka has laid down a marker for all aspiring contenders on how to play the top players. Play fearless tennis and play it hard. Fight till the very last point. He has thrown the kitchen sink at Djokovic in the 4th round of the Australian Open, absolutely thrashed Andy Murray on clay and repeated the dose at the US Open and then gave Djokovic even more trouble in the US Open Semi-final. He should pose some more questions to Novak Djokovic, today.

Djokovic handled Wawrinka quite comfortably in their latest match and with the finish line in sight, I expect Djokovic to turn up today with his very best game. Should he do so, he will have too much defence to counter Wawrinka’s shot-making and then reply with his own fire-power.